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AC Alert

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One of the best ways to protect yourself in an emergency situation is to stay informed. In the event of a significant emergency or dangerous situation, Amherst College may notify the community using AC Alert. AC Alert is designed to provide students, faculty, and staff with information that may be critical to your safety via text, voice, email, desktop alerts, digital signage, and outdoor speakers.

Update Your Contact Information

Students

Log in to ACData and select “Address, Telephone and Mass Notification” to submit your contact information.

Employees

Visitors, Contractors, etc.

In addition to receiving AC Alert messages via digital signage and outdoor speakers, visitors can receive AC Alert messages on an iOS or Android device. After installing "Alertus" from the iOS App Store or Google Play Store, be sure to allow notifications from the app. Enter "Amherst" when asked for an organization code, and you'll then be set up to receive AC Alert messages on your phone.

Emergency Notification Policy

It is the policy of Amherst College to provide, without delay, immediate notification to the community upon confirmation of an incident or emergency that poses an immediate threat to the health or safety of the AC community.

Amherst has implemented a Mass Notification system, Everbridge, Inc., a service that allows College officials to reach students and staff with time-sensitive information during unforeseen events or emergencies.

The system uses voice, e-mail, and text messaging to broadcast pertinent information and, when appropriate, provide directions to those in the affected area(s). The College has also installed an outdoor auditory speaker system to use in conjuncture with Everbridge. Additionally, the Amherst College main webpage (www.amherst.edu) may be used to provide emergency notification information. Community members and visitors may now also download the Alertus application onto their mobile device from the app store. Instructions can be found by following this link: https://www.amherst.edu/emergency/node/521933.

Amherst College has created policy defining when the Mass Notification system will be used, without delay and taking into account the safety of the community, determine the content of the notification and initiate the notification system unless such notification will, in the professional judgment of responsible authorities, compromise efforts to assist a victim or to contain, respond to, investigate or otherwise mitigate an emergency.

Those titles that may authorize and make the decision to distribute and activate an Emergency Mass Notification include:

President

Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer

Chief Financial and Administrative Officer

Chief Student Affairs Officer

Dean of Faculty

Dean of Admission and Financial Aid

Chief of Campus Operations

Chief of Staff

Chief Information Officer

Chief Advancement Officer

Chief Communications Officer

Chief Policy Officer and General Counsel

Director of Emergency Preparedness

Chief of Amherst College Police

Environmental Health and Safety Director

Director of Media Communications

Deputy Chief of Police

Police Sergeants

The following positions are authorized to develop and initiate the immediate (emergency) notifications to the community:

The person listed above who creates and initiates the notification will determine the appropriate segment or segments of the community to receive the message.

Some or all of the systems listed above will be used to communicate follow-up information to the AC community.

Members of the larger community, such as neighbors, can use the website to receive updated information about an emergency on campus.

When at all possible, the authorized individual considering an emergency notification shall attempt to consult with another colleague from the list of individuals authorized to make a decision to distribute an immediate (emergency) notification to the community to confirm the need for an immediate notification to the community. Certain emergencies will preclude consultation. There may be times when timeliness (time of day, immediate need to know) is more critical than inclusion and consultation.

Mass notifications may use any combination of methods and most notifications require the use of the some or all of the AC-Alert system, but do not necessarily require the use of the outside audible speakers.